Loading...Two weeks ago I was asked to lead a PhD seminar on the use of literary forgery in early Christianity for the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures in the Department of Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern Cultures, at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. Thank God for Zoom.
In preparation I reread parts of my book Forgery and Counterforgery and came across a section that I thought might be of interest to (some) members of the blog, dealing with Christian authors who fabricate stories and forge books to attack their heretical opponents.
This will take two posts. TRIGGER WARNING: it involves rather scandalous sex acts (and worse) by an early Christian group. Or so our source tells us. And he indicates he has first-hand knowledge of it. Whoa.
Here’s part one.
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As a further example of a forger who perpetrated a fraud, we might consider the work of the doughty defender of the apostolic faith, Epiphanius of Salamis (late fourth century). Throughout his major work, the Panarion, an eighty-chapter refutation of all things heretical, Jewish and Christian, Epiphanius repeatedly demeans his opponents for using forged and apocryphal books. Nowhere is he more explicit in his condemnations than in his attack in Book 26 on the Phibionites (known also as Gnostics and Barborites; he gives them numerous names). Among the false and forged books that this heretical sect used Epiphanius explicitly condemns the following: a book called Noriah, the Gospel of Perfection, the Gospel of Eve, the Lesser Questions of Mary, the Greater Questions of Mary, the Books of Seth, Apocalypses of Adam, the Birth of Mary, and the Gospel of Philip. Many of these books are now lost, although we do have still today an Apocalypse of Adam, the Gospel of Philip, the Birth of Mary (= Protevangelium Jakobi), and the Second Treatise of the Great Seth. Whether the extant versions are the books Epiphanius had in mind is anyone’s guess.
Epiphanius is particularly well informed about the Phibionites and their literature, he tells us, because as a young man he was nearly seduced – literally – into their sect. According to his autobiographical, yet imaginative, account, as a young man he was approached by two attractive women who
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Religion often seems to be obsessed with sex (even though other sins like greed and social injustice are of much greater consequence to society). Do you know of any scholar who has written on the subject of religion’s obsession with sex?
Since Freud? No one comes to mind, but I bet there’s lots.
Well. If you’re into art, highly recommend “The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion” by Leo Steinberg. It’s terrific.
I watched the debate with Mike Licona. I’m wondering, if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead. What do you think happened to his body?
I think he wasn’t buried in a rock tomb but like all crucified victims of whom we have record was left to decompose on the cross and then his remains were unceremoniously disposed of. It’s a weird notion for people today to get their minds around, but it’s what the Romans are repeatedly said to have done to those who were crucified.
How would it beneift Xianity for someone to make up Paul coming before Gallio, proconsul of Achaia, mentioned in Acts 18: 12? I read there are supposed letters of admiration between Seneca and Paul which I am sure are fiction. W ith Seneca’s view of a soul and an afterlife it seems more plausible that the the Church fathers as educated Greeks exposed to Seneca’s philosophy would create it as part of their own beliefs. Do you know any influence of Plato and a Seneca’s philosophy on the church fathers?
It would elevate his significance as one who had contact with one of the great Roman families. And yes, Plato exerted a very large influence on later theologians.
I think the TRIGGER WARNING fell short … An article not easy to read !
When I first read the first letter to Timothy (1 Tim 5:1-2) “Treat ..younger women as sisters, with absolute purity” was a puzzle to me.
Absolute purity? Why such a recommendation to Timothy? Did he abuse some “younger woman” to deserve such words?
Then I read about forgeries and I understood this odditie and many others in the Pastorals(Why did Paul write to Timothy about so many things he obviously knew??? )
This is not a recommendation to Timothy but to anyone who would lead a christian community , was forged in the name of Paul not only to fight heresies but to set some “basic recommendations”. But then, why the recommendation ? Well, by the time it was written some church leaders were not treating younger women with the needed “purity” (and probably also younger men ) … and the early church took matters in his hands … until today had utterly failed.
The Phibionites took a different road and developed an entire theology to justify their sexual apetites . Is it all Epiphanius’ imagination? Mmmm, what about David Berg’s cult?
I am taking a break from Senca to read ‘Christ Is the Question’ by Wayne A. Meeks, which I noticed you have read. I am just curious… You teach in the Bible Belt , when you ask your student about their knowledge of the Bible is there a similiar view- their cultural identiy – about Jesus baiscally the same or do you deal with a little of every thing? Are they mostly evangelical fundamentalist and do you find that more challenging? Do you ever gear some of your lectures to their world view of Yeshua?
Most of my students have been raised in conservative Christian households, but not all of them; and many of them do not subscribe to the views the heard growing up. They tend to be very open and interested in historical scholarship.
Hi Bart 2 questions…
1) was listening to your debate with Mike and in your closing statement, you said somethings that confused me. You seem to have said that if your Christian loved ones started believing that they could prove-they-were-right, they wouldn’t be your loved ones anymore. Can you clarify what that meant? You also said something similar about evangelical beliefs in general. Can you clarify that too?
2) Let’s take the case of the popes. You seem to agree that there was a pope/bishop of Rome in the second century. My question is… if the lists provided by Irenaeus, Tertullian etc are correct, but the previous “popes” rather than referring to single bishops refer rather to the most significant figures in that Church (in this case, Rome) and it is true that one came after the other… wouldn’t that count as Apostolic succession of office. After all, even tho the way the role was administered changed, there was still a senior figure, who may simply have been in charge of less than his eventual successors decades later. Can that sort of thinking “rescue” apostolic succession (of either Popes or Patriarchs)?
Thank you!
Doctor Ehrman, I’ve heard you mention somewhere that the practice of using The Book of Revelation to predict the future goes back to 1830s and it came about with the forming of the fundamentalist movement. Could you point me to a good book discussing how the fundamentalist movement came about from the historical perspective? I’m talking about the brand of Christianity nowadays represented by institutions like the Moody Bible institute. History of Christianity since modernity is a fascinating topic to me, but I haven’t been able to find a good intellectual history of it yet. Where should I start looking in your opinion? What is a good, standard reference work on the topic, if there is such a thing?
I very much like Sandeen, The Roots of Fundamentalism — a classic!
I guess Epiphanius was fine with the sins of gossip and slander!
Some months ago I ran across a YouTube video in which you remarked that this was your favorite of all your books, and so I ordered a copy and read it, almost voraciously, constantly astounded by all the creative, fantastic, highly imaginative lying. Came away a little depressed by how much of the world’s revered religious literature is forgery. Buddhism certainly comes to mind. Still, what a terrific book. Quite accessible to a lay reader.
Hi Bart, I would appreciate your thoughts on something that has puzzled me about an event after Jesus’ resurrection. I am going by memory here, but I recall mention that some of the people who saw the risen Jesus could not recognize him. Is it possible that there was a case of mistaken identity – that they saw someone that looked like Jesus and they became convinced it was Jesus? Or maybe someone pretended to be the risen Jesus and got people to believe him for reasons of wishful thinking? Do you think some of this could be historical? Why would the author say Jesus did not look like himself? I remember asking my catholic religion teacher decades ago about this and he said the glorified Jesus had a different appearance. Thanks! Kameel
Another odd thing is how mny of the disciples “doubted.” It’s hard to know what they would doubt if he was right there talking to them. My sense is that these stories arose because there actually were disciples who didn’t ever believe it.
Dr. Ehrman:
Following your recent debate, could you comment on Mike Licona’s point that Jodi Magness believes that the gospel accounts of Jesus’s burial are consistent with the evidence of ancient archaeology from that period? Also, can you comment on his point about Matthew’s chronology, namely what the disciples were told and where to go (or not go), and that it was obviously in Jerusalem because that’s where he was telling them things, but that they didn’t have to stay there, etc.
1. Jodi. Oh yes, we’ve had a number of vigorous arguments about that. 🙂 (We’re across the hall from one another). She means that th erock tomb etc. makes sense. I mean that Romans didn’t do that kind of thing. And they didn’t. 2. MIke’s just wrong about that. Read Matthew for yourself and you’ll see.
Gibbon seems to have been well aware of these forgeries, or these stories circulating among various “Christian” groups in the early days, for the purpose of encouraging Roman censure and persecution of heretics. But the Romans didn’t have the time or patience to sort out the peculiar beliefs of these various groups, and painted them all with the same brush: vile and disgusting sects hostile to public order and decency. It seems possible to me that some early Christian sects really did behave like sixties swingers; some of Paul’s epistles suggest the possibility of such behavior. Some of the stories might well have been exaggerations rather than fabrications.